Category Archives: Musical Crafts

It’s celebrated every year from September 15th – October 15th and it’s a great time to connect, explore and enjoy the beauty and diversity of Hispanic cultures around the globe. For the past several years, I’ve been adding free items to my TPT store to share with teachers, parents and homeschoolers who want to have some hands-on fun as part of their HHM experience.

We’re proud to be part of the Middle Eastern North Africa blog hop. Naturally we have a post about music, but make sure you check out all the other related posts (listed below) to learn more about this beautiful and culturally rich part of the world.

Crafting is a great hands-on way for kids to learn about world cultures, so our post shows you how to make a sistrum, a unique rattle that was used in the courts of the Pharoahs of ancient Egypt.

What is a Sistrum?

You can see images of sistrums in hieroglyphics found in the pyramids. A bit of study of the courts of the Pharoahs reveals that the sistrum was played mainly by women or priestesses and that it was played by moving it back and forth from side to side so that the metal bangles create a unique sound and distinctive rhythms. It was often part of ceremonial or the sacred/religious music of the time.

Make Your Own Sistrum From a Tree Branch

If you take a walk in a wooded area, it’s easy to find a tree branch that is shaped like the letter “Y”. You can use the branch “as is” or cut and sand it down, if you like.

Next, you’ll need a bit of floral wire or craft wire. Wrap it around one side of the Y, then add whatever bangles you may have. Below we have a post showing how to safely make bangles from bottlecaps, which is a fun recycling project. Instead – or in addition to bangles – you can also use things like beads, jingle bells or bits of jewelry to add to the bling of your sistrum. Be as creative as you like!

Playing A Sistrum

Although the traditional way to play a sistrum is to move it back and forth only, it’s a rattle so feel free to use it as a percussion instrument any way you like.

Music camp? Backyard staycation? Last minute playdate? We’ve created this fun compilation of activity pdf’s from our readers favorite projects for summer musical fun. Not only are all these crafts made from items you already have around the house but they also teach about the cultural background of each instrument – such as Hawaiian pu’ili rhythm sticks or Aboriginal Australian didgeridoos and bilma clapsticks. And everything is so simple that even a grown-up can do it!

Want to win a copy? Jump on in right here! Two lucky winners will get the this fun compilation so they can musically craft their way all around the world this summer.

If you can’t wait to get it, the TPT link is below – and it’s half price during the month of July. Plus there are links to related summer musical fun.

Have you heard of World Oceans Day? Celebrated annually on June 8th, it’s an internationally recognized and celebrated day to learn, share, preserve and promote one of our most magnificent resources, the oceans and seas.

The World Oceans Days website (link below) is a wealth of information – including research on pollution, posters in 15 languages, and a variety of action steps that anyone can take to make a difference. Visit the site to learn how oceans regulate our climate, generate most of the oxygen we breathe, clean the water that we drink and so much more.

Want to combine your learning with a fun recycled music craft? Here’s a way you can reduce, reuse, recycle and make a great homemade drum that sounds remarkably like the sea!

What Is An Ocean Drum?

If you live near the sea or have visited an ocean, you know the wonderful, relaxing sound of waves coming and going along the seashore. An ocean drum is a 2 sided hand drum that – when played – sounds just like the surf. In fact, if you close your eyes, you can imagine you are right there on the beach, hearing the waves as they come and go.

Above is a picture of a traditional ocean drum.

Make Your Own Recycled Ocean Drum

Check your recycling bin. Do you have a sturdy pizza box or a mailing box with dimensions somewhat like the one seen here? If you do, you can fill the bottom of the box with sand, salt, seed beads or any tiny pasta (like acini de pepe). There’s also some great ways to create a window to the drum, decorate the outside and seal the box so the contents don’t escape and you can use it for weeks to come.

Ocean Drum Tutorial Free

Want a step-by-step tutorial plus other great info on this drum and world music instruments? Until June 16th, we’ve reduced the price of this great kids music resource to – free! (Note: If you read this post after June 16, 2017 and need a free educator’s copy, just contact daria at dariamusic at yahoo dot com for more info).

Although it can be messy, it’s a fun part of so many celebrations. And we often add it to many of our recycled rattle projects to add color and a bit of extra merriment.

So what’s better then colorful confetti? Answer: recycling holiday wrapping to create your own endless supply of fun…con…fetti! Here are three ways to make different kinds of confetti from extra holiday wrapping supplies. Naturally, if working with younger kids, be aware of safety issues with scissors and substitute kid shears. If working with very young children, you may want to make confetti in advance then allow them to choose or pour confetti through a large-mouthed funnel into your holiday rattles or crafts.

So don’t throw out that holiday packaging! Here’s how to make it part of your next celebration.

Hole Punch Confetti

This is clearly the easiest method and makes perfect little circles. Just cut squares of used wrapping paper (the brighter, the better) and put several together before you start punching. You’ll easily find how many paper squares you can put together to get the most amount of confetti without straining your hand and your hole punch.

Other fun hole punches? Craft stores often have hole punches with different shapes and sizes, like stars and moons. These make for wonderful additions to this project!

Cut Across Confetti

Cut squares of used tissue paper or wrapping paper and put about 4 – 6 together. Tape one side to keep the papers together. Then make long scissors cuts up toward the taped side, but not into the taped area. Once you’ve made these long vertical cuts, you can cut straight across (in the opposite direction) and it will yield nice little uneven squares of confetti.

Snip-A-Ribbon Confetti

Have lots of used ribbon? This method yields a bit less confetti, but still makes colorful little squares. Simply hold 4 – 6 pieces of ribbon in your hand and snip across the top. You can also cut longer pieces and make mock shredded paper. Similarly you can curl ribbon and then cut the longer curls to add into your rattles.

Then, What?

By far, the two most popular confetti crafts are rattles and confetti poppers. We have our rattle post below plus two different creative methods for MYO poppers (aka confetti cannons) in the links below.

If you’ve ever made a homemade tambourine or sistrum, you’ve probably wanted to use bangles like those seen on traditional middle eastern drums or instruments. Technically, these round thin mini-cymbals are called zils. You can see some lovely large zils on this antique tambourine from the Middle East.

If you’re crafting an instrument that uses these bangles, it’s easy to make a simple version of zils out of recycled bottle caps using a few tools that are handy around any home or garage.

What You Need

Metal bottle caps
Piece of Wood
Hammer
Large nail with a head
Safety Goggles

Safety First

Although this is a reasonably safe and easy project, it’s always a good idea to use caution. Wearing safety goggles means that your eyes and face are protected if you accidentally hit the cap too hard and it bounces off the wooden work surface. In general, a good tip for this project is to use the hammer slowly and gently, tapping repeatedly until you get the desired results.

Set Up A Work Area

Set the piece of wood down either on the floor, the ground or a sturdy table. Place the metal bottle cap (cap-side-up) and then position the large nail above it, directly in the center. Gently tap until the nail has pierced the cap and reached down into the wood. This creates the hole that will allow you to thread it onto whatever you are making.

Next, With cap-side-down, next gently strike all the edges of the bottle cap until it slowly flattens. This can take 15, 20 or more gentle taps with the hammer.

Next, turn the bottle cap over. Continue to tap the outer edges and the inner circle until all the sharp edges are flattened and pressed into the cap’s surface. Although some recycled projects use the bottle caps in their original form – such as the wooden sistrum from Africa seen below – flattening the bangles makes them safer to handle and use in any project.

If you’re doing this project with very small children, you might wish to create the bangles in advance and focus more on how the children can string the bangles plus other rattling objects onto their craft instrument.

Wondering what else you could add to a tambourine or sistrum project? In addition to bottle cap zils, you can add paper clips, buttons, jingles, beads or pull tabs from soda cans. Remember, while you’re reducing, reusing and recycling, you’re also teaching kids to limit their use of resources but never limit their imagination or creativity!

Hispanic Heritage Month – September 15th to October 15th every year – is a great time to explore the many diverse and beautiful cultures with Hispanic roots. Making and playing simple musical instruments from these cultures is a great way to discover more about countries like Mexico, Chile, Cuba, Spain, Argentina, Peru, Puerto Rico, Honduras or Ecuador. And it’s a great way to enjoy time with your children, by learning simple songs or playing music together.

Over the last decade, we’ve assembled our favorite musical crafts that delight young kids, so feel free to use these a starting point for giving your little global citizens the whirlwind tour of Latino music and culture. Here are some of our reader’s favorite, plus links below to freebie coloring and instrument information pages available through the TeachersPayTeachers site.

Sharing Bongos With Babies

Bongo drums are a wonderfully simple drum to make and play. With Afro-Cuban roots, they consist of two small hand drums with differing sounds, so tapping back and forth creates many marvelous rhythmic possibilities. Make two sets for parent and child and try your hand at becoming a skilled “bongocero”.

Got buttons? This simple craft creates a convincing castanet that almost anyone can play between their thumb and first finger. Supplies needed for this craft are matched sets of buttons, glue and some sturdy paper, like a manila folder or colorful poster board.

Panpipes can be heard throughout South American folk music. Their unique breathy sound comes from blowing over the top of open reeds that are cut to various lengths. You can make your own version from wide straws and decorate them like real zamponãs. With a bit of practice, you’ll get the hang of blowing over the edges of the straws (as opposed to into them) and be creating simple tunes that you recognize or even melodies from the Andes!

You’ll recognize the sound of a guiro right away, and if you don’t – you can hear one here: http://www.dariamusic.com/guiro.php. This project is so easy to make and play, then scrape away at rhythms all day long. Use your new guiro to play along with music from Puerto Rico, Cuba or Mexico. Or sing your favorite song in Spanish and use the guiro to keep the beat!

Don’t miss all of the great posts from previous years as well: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

Hispanic Heritage Month Giveaway!

Giveaway begins September 14 and goes through October 14, 2016.

Enter below for a chance to win one of these amazing prize packages! Some prizes have shipping restrictions. In the event that a winner lives outside the designated shipping area, that prize will then become part of the following prize package. For more information, read our full giveaway rules.

Will you be going camping, hosting a summer camp or just having a staycation in the great outdoors of your big backyard?

If so, music may be one of the creative activities you can include to make it even more enriching, fun and memorable. Here’s a compilation of our most popular “making music outdoors” posts.

Make a Rhythm Tree

You already have the components for a large outdoor percussion place right in your garage or recycling bin! A bit of artistic creativity can turn them into items to adorn a tree for free form musical expression. Don’t have the perfect tree? You can always substitute a clothesline or rope for a different version of this great kids project. Check out the full post here:

This super-simple craft starts with a wide-mouth recyclable container and ends – anywhere you want it to! Talk a hike around your local park, lake or playground and you can identify and gather materials that will shake rattle and roll for you. Do this activity for younger kids as a sensory craft or for older kids as a plant or natural object identification quest. Or a scavenger hunt. Anyone up for finding a fern frond, a hickory nut or a pine cone? All the details are here: http://www.tinytappingtoes.com/early-learning-with-music/make-an-earth-day-nature-walk-rattle/

Make a Bullroarer!

Want to create a musical instrument shared by both Australian Aboriginal and Native American peoples? Make and play a bullroarer and you should be able to hear it an amazingly long distance away. Since this requires a bit of space to play, it’s perfect for large open spaces or as an outdoor activity. Check out the crazy sound it makes and the complete post about Australian instruments here: http://www.tinytappingtoes.com/uncategorized/outdoor-musical-play-make-your-own-bullroarer/

You don’t need to go to a music camp to learn basic songwriting with easy activities like this that take a recognizable melody and help you craft your own lyrics. Use the Earth Day theme or choose another subject and you’re on your way to creating a personalized soundtrack to this summer’s fun. No previous songwriting experience needed! Check it out here: http://www.tinytappingtoes.com/classroom-music/sing-your-own-earth-day-song/

Holidays are a wonderful time to explore both music and world cultures with your young child. Here’s a super-easy kids drum craft for St. Patrick’s Day – a drum that originally was a farm sieve for separating grain! A kid’s size bodhran (pronounced bow-ran) can be easily made from a pie tin or a metal take-out container. And definitely make the “tipper”, too. It’s a special kind of drum beater that is tapped back and forth and it great for teaching motor skills to kids! Step-by-step directions can be found in the tutorial below from the TPT website.

What do the classic Irish symbols mean? Naturally, you’ll recognize shamrocks as symbols of good luck. The Celtic Cross often represents religion and spirituality. A harp is often pictured because it is the national instrument of Ireland and the Claddagh (two hands joined by a crowned heart) is a beautiful symbol that represents the bonds of friendship, love and loyalty.

Wondering what a bodhran looks or sounds like? Watch these three young boys showing off their formidable drumming and Irish dancing skills. Plus, feel free to check out our round-up of Irish music-related crafts and posts for kids, listed below.